Using Wendell Berry's 'How to be a poet' at Whitechapel 17 June 2017

HOW TO BE A POET(to remind myself)

Make a place to sit down.Sit down. Be quiet.You must depend uponaffection, reading, knowledge,skill – more of eachthan you have – inspiration,work, growing older, patience,for patience joins timeto eternity. Any readerswho like your poems,doubt their judgment.

Breathe with unconditional breaththe unconditioned air.Shun electric wire.Communicate slowly. Livea three-dimensioned life;stay away from screens.Stay away from anythingthat obscures the place it is in.There are no unsacred places;there are only sacred placesand desecrated places.

Accept what comes from silence.Make the best you can of it.Of the little words that comeout of the silence, like prayersprayed back to the one who prays,make a poem that does not disturbthe silence from which it came.